Welcome Baby Nicole ...............

My niece Joanne had another baby girl,  Nicole Amy, who arrived on 1st November.  After a few worrying days in the high dependancy unit, I'm pleased to say that the baby is now well and at home with her Mum, Dad and sister Faye.  I thoroughly enjoyed making this pink and sparkly card and decorated it with Zva crystals, pink and white mulberry flowers and pale  pink silky crush ribbon.

I used a LOTV diecut square for the image and chose pink patterned papers and card

I used loads of Stardust Stickles and a gorgeous Zva crystal flourish which I cut into pieces and incorporated into the flower arrangement.  The green leaves and fronds were cut with Martha Stewart punches and the mulberry flowers were a 30mm pink/white two tone rose, 13mm pink/white roses, pink/white pretty blossoms, 10mm white rose buds

The inside was decorated to compliment the front

I made a box which I also decorated to match the card, and added a bow of the same ribbon,a mulberry rose and another piece of the Zva flourish

I was really pleased with how this particular card turned out
Ribbon, Zva Crystal Flourish, Mulberry Flowers are all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/
I'm going to enter this into the LOTV bright and sparkly challenge. See you soon, Mary G xx

Warm wishes ............

Well I got the weather wrong yesterday, as it seemed calm and cloudless when I got up but a while later it was blowing a gale again and showered most of the day - hoping for calm weather soon to get the big pots on the back patio emptied and refilled with the rest of the winter pansies and primroses.

These three little cuties from LOTV are gorgeous aren't they? I kept the colouring very simple, just coloured the spots and stars on their little frocks with Copics in various greens to tone with the background paper, and added loads of stickles to the holly wreaths on their gingerish bonde hair. The 'warm wishes' sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley 

The image was matted onto red card then white and added a big, beautiful red silky crush ribbon and bow and I even managed to tie the bow using Andrea's patented method - she must have shown me hundreds of time and I've no idea how it worked this time, perhaps I've got the knack at last lol!  I added a silver filigree corner and some clear stick on gems from stash, plus plenty of Stardust Stickles.  You can't have too much bling on cards, especially Christmas cards!

The flowers today are a small poinsetta and white steph (WO) and some white pretty blossoms with green leaves (Martha Stewart Punch) and holly leaves in various greens cut with a tiny die from Papertrey Ink.

I made this card for the current 'Warm and Cosy' Lili of the Valley challenge here

Back tomorrow, and if you haven't popped over to the Ribbon Girl Blog yet, the challenge is Lilacs and Greens, and at Papertake Weekly it is Spooky Hues

Bye for now

Mary G x

Ribbon flower

This is my first attempt at making a ribbon flower - this one is approx 2 inches across so would make a nice hair ornament if I stitch a clip onto the back of it.  This is made with silky crush (ribbon girl is still waiting for more stock of 'champagne silky crush, but pink, blue, white and teal are all available from stock), gathered up and tightened, then I cut 4 'petals' from the same ribbon and stitched them to the back, added a few pearl strands then finished with some oloroso seam binding and a little cream button which I covered in Stickles Stardust.  I hope to make a few cards at the weekend and some more flowers small enough to add to my cards. Ribbons, buttons and stickles all from http://www.ribbongirl.co.uk/

White and Cream Magnolia Card

I stamped the Magnolia image onto watercolour paper then painted with with distress ink, first time I've tried this technique and was really pleased with the result - was just like watercolour painting.  I cut the oval with a nestie then made a white watercolour scalloped background mount and painted the edge with the same distress ink. 

The background paper is from a Making Memories pack and I added white cotton lace and cut some swirls on the sizzix to which I added Stardust Stickles.  The flowers, which I coloured slightly with watered down distress ink are from Wild Orchid.  I added a couple of coppery/gold pins and a beautiful bowl made from Champagne Silky Crush ribbon, then added stickles to the stamped image.  The final touch was three adhesive pearls - I was so pleased with the end result and will be colouring more stamped images with the Tim Holtz Distress Inks.   Lace, Ribbon, Pins, Stickles all from here.  I'm entering this card into the Magnolia Week 83 challenge White plus One